[Tim C]

Melee over officiating leads to arrest of 6th-grade girls coach
Posted by The Oregonian February 17, 2008 13:27PM
Categories: Breaking News, Clackamas County

Jeffery Scott LarsenA sixth-grade girls basketball coach was arrested this morning and accused of taunting a high-school-age referee and inciting a disturbance that flooded a basketball court with angry fans.
Clackamas County sheriff's Detective Jim Strovink said Jeffery Scott Larsen, 34, of Molalla was charged with criminal trespassing of a sporting event, a misdemeanor.

Deputies were called to the Estacada High School gym at noon Saturday after reports of a disturbance over officiating of a sixth-grade girls basketball game between teams from Estacada and Molalla. According to police reports, the incident began with spectators who were unhappy with the game's officiating.

Strovink said Deputy Brian Pearson reported that the disturbance began when Larsen, the Molalla team's coach, received two technical fouls and was ejected from the game. Pearson said Larsen remained in the building and verbally harassed the game's 17-year-old referee, an Estacada High student. After the game ended the deputy's report said Larsen threatened the referee physically and directed a profane attack at the boy.

Strovink offered this description of events in an e-mail:

Detailed information received at the scene reveals Coach Jeffery Scott Larsen received his first technical foul during the first-half of the game, while he became excessively argumentative when objecting to a foul called on one of his players.
The second technical foul was instituted at the beginning of the 2nd half -- with a resulting ejection from the game -- when Coach Larsen became increasingly angry at the officiating and hastily slammed his clipboard down on a 6th grade girls hand, who was positioned at a courtside table acting as the designated scorekeeper. This young girl sustained a cut to her hand, not requiring sutures or medical attention.

Additional information received indicates Coach Larsen failed to leave the arena when ejected -- as prescribed by law -- opting to stand in a corner of the hall, continuing to yell at the officiating, and continuing to coach his players from a corner of the gym. It was during this point in time, when the Molalla fans became more immersed in the taunting of the referee, and the electrified fan hostility continued to escalate with time. This antagonism was carried onto the floor at the end of the game when both the Estacada and Molalla fans swarmed the floor verbally facing-off against each other. No physical injuries were reported.

At the conclusion of the game, witnesses report Coach Larsen advanced rapidly onto the basketball court while grabbing the arm of referee Houston Webb, and menacingly cocked his arm back with a clenched fist.



Strovink said Larsen was arrested this morning after being questioned at his Molalla home. He was cited and released from the Clackamas County Jail.

Strovink said Estacada Junior High School principal Kevin Olds was coaching the Estacada girls team at the game. Strovink said Olds told him that about 75 parents and children witnessed the melee.

"Many of the girls were frightened, crying and fleeing the building with their parents," Strovink quoted Olds as saying.